The polaroid started to transform into a mist as the ghost started to form again, growing out from the picture before it completely vanished and the ghost started to shrink away into a thick mist again.
The mist slowly made it's way towards Charlie and started to move towards his mouth. Charlie parted his lips a little and took a deep breath, inhaling the mist and closing his mouth once it was all inhaled. He felt a cold chill go through his entire body, spreading down to his torso, through his limbs to his fingers and toes and then turning around and looping through his body.
The cold pulsated through his body several times and then eventually came to a stop as he felt his body start to warm up again. He took a deep breath and moved a hand to his chest, clutching lightly at his shirt.
"Damn… That felt really weird, what did you just make me do?!"
Lawrence chuckled and turned to the door, starting to walk towards it. He pulled the door open and looked back at Charlie, looking over him a couple of times.
"I just gave you the power to become an investigator. Wait here while I get you an interview, it will just be a minute."
With that he walked out of the door and closed it behind himself.
———
The waiting felt a lot longer than it really was. Charlie was sat in the room with the only thing to do being staring at his reflection, so that's what he did. He looked in the mirror, looking over his features. He was going to have an interview so he should probably try and look his best.
He brushed his fingers through his blond hair, trying to even out the split of his curtains. He looked into the mirror and looked at his eyes, his blue eyes having a piercing reflection in the mirror. He let out a sigh and shook his head.
He moved his arms to cross them over his chest and turned to the door, without having anything he couldn't change much more about his appearance, he couldn't iron the creases out of his shirt or wipe the dirt off of his shoes so for now he was forced to hope the interviewer was nice.
It wasn't much longer after he fixed his hair that a person walked through the door. It was a pale man wearing a buttoned up black suit, he had a black tie and a white shirt and his black hair was slicked back, he also had glasses resting lightly on his nose. The man sat down across from Charlie and held out a clipboard.
"I'll be interviewing you, don't worry. The process is extremely simple compared to other organisations. First off i'll need your name, age, and occupation"
Charlie brought a hand up to his chin and thought for a moment, that seemed pretty standard.
"My name is Charlie Monrell, i'm 19 and i'm a full time student at the Noctowl Spiritual Academy. What else?"
The interviewer adjusted his glasses before writing down a few things on his clipboard.
"You were brought in by Lawrence, i'll get your spiritual aptitude results from him. Are you willing to abandon your occupation to become a spiritual investigator?"
Charlie paused for a moment and then took a deep breath. He sat in silence for a few seconds and then nodded.
"Yes. The only reason i'm going to the academy is because I wanted to become an investigator, if i can skip that process i'd be more than happy to"
The interviewer wrote some more down on the clipboard and then nodded.
"You are aware that Lawrence is calling in a favour for you? You're being hired under a special contract"
Charlie tilted his head and then looked at the mirror, assuming it was some form of one way glass. He stared at it for a moment before shifting his focus back to the interviewer.
"I didn't know that, i'll have to ask why he's doing this when I see him next"
The interviewer nodded and then tapped his finger on the clipboard, he took a deep breath and paused for a moment.
"Are you aware that you are very likely to die in this job?"
Charlie paused again. He held his breath for a few seconds while that thought went through his head, echoing through his mind. He never thought about the risks before, he'd only considered that he'd be a hero. He sat for a few seconds in silence and then spoke.
"Yes, i'm willing to put my life on the line"
The interviewer nodded and took a piece of paper off of the clip board, placing it down before sliding the clipboard over to Charlie and tossing the pen on top of it.
"Read your contract. Like I said it's very easy to get a job here, we needed to make it easy since we have a very high staff turnover"
Charlie looked at the clipboard and took the pen. He started to read through everything, he went through each page of the contract and nodded his head. Once he had read it all and taken a few minutes to consider he signed everywhere he needed to and slid the clipboard back to the interviewer.
The man took the board back and picked it up, standing and nodding while he looked at Charlie. He put the clipboard under his arm and held his right hand out in front of him, offering it to Charlie
"We will sort out all of the annoying parts for you. I'm glad to welcome you aboard. It's nice to meet you Charlie."
Charlie extended his hand to shake the man's and stood up himself, letting go after a firm handshake and walking to the door which he held open for the interviewer to walk out of.
The two left the room and Charlie was greeted by Lawrence standing just outside the door, his arms crossed as he looked down at the boy.
"Nice to see you got the job."
Charlie looked up at the man who had saved his life and thought for a few seconds, he wanted to word it well. He thought over how he could phrase it a few times before eventually speaking.
"Why did you pull strings to get me a job? You only just met me?"
Lawrence smiled and answered quickly, as if he had already thought of the response before the question was asked.
"You seemed like you'd make a good coworker. It felt like it would benefit me to get you hired"
Charlie brought a hand up to his own head and rubbed it, using his palm to rub his forehead a little before he nodded and let his arm drop down.
"I suppose that seems like a good reason. Thank you. I'll work hard to pay you back"
Lawrence once again spoke quickly, this time with a much more serious tone.
"Pay me back by not dying. Welcome to the institute"
Lawrence brought his hand up and used it to very lightly punch Charlie in the arm before turning his head and looking down the hallway behind him.
"I'll make sure to show you the ropes at some point. How about to celebrate your new job we get some food?"
Charlie nodded and started to walk down the hallway. He hadn't eaten for a while and he wanted to use a meal as a way to try and get some favour with Lawrence, right now he had a lot of questions about this strange man and he wanted answers.
Lawrence started to walk himself, taking a few steps that were a little quicker so he could lead the way before matching Charlie's pace.